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Who is Miss Maudie in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee?

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Miss Maudie Atkinson is one of the primary characters in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. She lives alone across the street from Atticus Finch and his family. Miss Maudie speaks what she thinks plainly and without fuss, and she talks to Scout, Dill, and Jem as if they are her equals. 
Miss Maudie is the one who reveals many things about Atticus and his character to his children (who seem to think he is nothing but an "old fuddy duddy" who is boring and average in every way). She pays Atticus the highest compliment by saying he is the same in his home as he is on the street, though Scout does not really understand what that means. When Scout talks with Miss Maudie about the trial, the older woman again pays tribute to Aticus's character:

Whether Maycomb knows it or not, we're paying the highest tribute we can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple.

Miss Maudie serves as a kind of chorus to Atticus, reinforcing his beliefs. She agrees with Atticus that

mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

Miss Maudie is her own woman and does only what her conscience tells her to do. She is hard on those who hypocritically use religion to oppress others (such as the "foot-washin' Baptists" who routinely deride her for enjoying her flower garden or the missionary circle who has empathy for the plight of far-away black people but no tolerance at all for those in their own town), but she is also a lady. Scout goes to Miss Maudie when she is feeling left out by the boys, and Miss Maudie never condemns her for being such a tomboy.
Scout does not have a mother, but she is blessed to have Miss Maudie in her life to serve as a mentor and confidante.

Answer

Miss Maudie is a voice of reason and a mother figure in this novel, especially to Scout.
Miss Maudie is kind and hospitable to Jem, Scout, and Dill, unlike some of their other neighbors. She bakes them cakes and always lends a sympathetic ear to the children's problems.
Miss Maudie is very much a female counterpart to Atticus. Atticus, for instance, shocks Aunt Alexandra by having no interest in teaching his children about their ancestry, believing it is what a person accomplishes on his or her own, not who their ancestors were, that matters. Miss Maudie also shows that she rejects the tradition of living in the past that so many of the white citizens in Maycomb cling to. When Miss Maudie's house burns down, she is happy to be rid of the encumbrance it has been to her, saying it weighed her down with too many relics from the past.
Miss Maudie also rejects, as Atticus does, the racism that leads to Tom Robinson's unfair conviction of rape in the face of evidence he could not have assaulted Mayella as described.
Scout finds that Miss Maudie is a comforting fount of information, wisdom, and common sense. She believes in treating people humanely and not judging them. She does not, like Aunt Alexandra, try to "fix" Scout but rather accepts her as she is and offers her sound guidance in navigating life.

Answer

Miss Maudie Atkinson is one of the Finch's neighbors. She bakes cakes, grows azaleas and tells the children the truth about Boo Radley. Her house is burnt down midway though the book. She's a forthright speaker and affirms that to kill a mockingbird is a sin because all they do is "sing their hearts out for us to hear". Miss Maudie is Scout's neighbor and also one of Scout's primary female models.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Who is Miss Maudie in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee?

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